♦ Livestream of 2 ZZT worlds. ♦
♦ Stream Contents ♦
• (0:00) "Jurassic Park" by Red (1997) [https://museumofzzt.com/file/view/jpraptor/]
• (41:00) "Starship Troopers" by Adam Fourney, Chris Fourney (1997) [https://museumofzzt.com/file/view/starshiptroopers/]
Two previously unknown games that based on movies or books depending on how you want to look at it.
Red's Jurassic Park means that there's finally a full length ZZT game based on the ...story. In contrast to HM's demo this one is a lot more ho-hum ZZT action and a lot less retelling the movie. The only real character is Grant, who jumps from arriving at the park to having been knocked into a dino pen and attacked by a lot of dinosaurs. Like most Jurassic Park games when the film was the hot new thing, Grant is more of a dinosaur hunter than expert. For the most part, it's a perfectly okay game, save for some branching paths where choosing the wrong way first means hitting a locked door and having to retread over now-empty boards to get the key or other item that was missed.
There's also a board connection error at one point where it's possible to get stuck if you haven't collected several items in advance, you'll be unable to leave the board and retrieve them.
Features a twist ending, a surprising number of playable boards only accessible through the editor, and a twist alternate ending to fulfill ZZT contractual obligations of including Barney the dinosaur.
The second game by the Fourney brothers (I'm guessing) specifically says that it was inspired by the book in the end credits. But book or film, the story here is pretty much nonexistant, so any fears that the game won't be that palatable can be safely ignored.
While I was expecting another game similar in quality to Jurassic Park, I really found myself won over by the game. Johnnie gets sent on three unique missions to clear some bug holes, defend a bunker from bugs, and capture a specimen of bug. The bug enemies are extremely strong, but the board layouts allow players to tactically take them out by using corners to their advantage. The second mission is a tad dull, just using a mounted machine gun to shoot straight ahead until you win, but the third really brings it all together.
Players are put in a dark cavern filled with bugs and have to collect a "Brain Bug" and make it out alive. The limited torchlight and just barely enough resources provided make for a tense game that plays up the idea that this is not a job for one trooper. You can even mistakenly wander into the queen's lair where your demise is assured!
♦ Play these worlds directly in your browser ♦
• https://museumofzzt.com/file/play/jpraptor/
• https://museumofzzt.com/file/play/starshiptroopers/
♦ Originally streamed on January 7th, 2024 ♦
